Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, crowned the Wallabies’ fittest after return to training
The Wallabies showed they mean business against the British and Irish Lions this year, with players returning in peak condition for pre-season training. Find out who topped the lot, inside.
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The Wallabies were put through the feared ‘Bronco’ test on their first day back from holiday, and halves Tate McDermott and Ben Donaldson shone in the challenge.
Halfback McDermott won the test, which is a sequence of shuttle runs over 60m, 40m and 20m over five sets and is commonly used as a barometer of fitness by rugby teams all over the world.
Donaldson finished second.
The most pleasing aspect for the Wallabies coaching staff is that all of the players returned to the January camp in good physical condition, despite coming off the back of the usually festive and calorie-loaded Christmas and New Years’ period where stars can get out of shape.
“There was none of that, everyone’s come back in really good shape,” halfback Nic White said.
“We all had targets, everyone was there or thereabouts and that’s awesome to see, that means we spend less time catching guys up and more time getting straight into the footy content and where we want to get to.
“Guys are coming into that prime age and understanding that, but also guys are showing their hunger to want to get better and go to a better place, and a lot of that’s driven by this really disciplined head coach we’ve got (who has) created this energy and environment where guys just want to get better and want to go to another level.”
Playmaker Noah Lolesio suggested McDermott won the Bronco test because of his frame.
“He’s got shorter legs, shorter height, so he can get there quicker,” Lolesio joked.
He added that the general fitness levels of the playing group was impressive, suggesting they’d all trained hard over the Christmas break.
A lot of boys come back in amazing shape,” Lolesio said.
“The first two weeks (of holidays), I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a bit too much. A bit of golf. Caught up with family, which was awesome. Then after those two weeks, I got back into the swing of training.
“It was an awesome break. I feel like the boys needed it after such a big year last year.”
Having completed the fitness test on Thursday, the squad will have a defence-specific training day under assistant coach Laurie Fisher on Friday.
The Wallabies will return to their Super Rugby clubs next week in preparation for the season that kicks off in February, before regrouping for the British & Irish Lions series in July.
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Originally published as Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, crowned the Wallabies’ fittest after return to training
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